Micheal Phelps Got an Empty Box
An Activision representative just confirmed that the supposedly pre-release copy of Call of Duty 5: World at War that Michael Phelps received was actually just an empty box. Reportedly, Phelps is still getting a free copy of the game, but he’d have to wait just like everyone else for the release date.
I flipped over to the Early Show the other day and saw Olympic star Michael Phelps doing an interview with what’s her face. I was about change the channel when suddenly the mention of Call of Duty pricked my ears. The interviewer (I still don’t know her name) handed him a copy of Call of Duty 5: World at War for Playstation 3, saying that Activision wanted him to have it even if it was months away from release.
My initial reaction was, “Wow, that’s double ‘A’ celebrity status.” But in a way it kind of sucked because then he’d have no one to play with online yet. BUT, he is Michael Phelps, and so probably wouldn’t want to play with lesser mortals anyway (even though he knows I can pawn him).
Then I started thinking that, as good of a swimmer that he is, Phelps most likely wouldn’t have enough time to play videogames since he’s always in training. This led me to two things. A) he probably does play a little, but couldn’t really care that much about it. The unperturbed look on his face when he was handed the game said it all. B) Activision knows how to market, and create all kinds of publicity stunts. Who cares if Phelps never touched a gamepad in his life? As long as they can attach this celebrity God to whatever product they have then mission accomplished.
The reports that I’ve just read this morning confirmed my half-baked theories in some way. Here’s what a source from MTV news has to say:
“I asked an Activision PR rep yesterday how this happened and found out that there was an asterisk to this extraordinary achievement. All Phelps really got was a “Call of Duty: World At War” box, with an I.O.U.”
So that’s that. Frankly, if I was Phelps, I would have been pissed or utterly disappointed, and so call out to his loyal followers (which is the whole US) to tell them not to buy (or even play) this game. That’ll show those bastards at Activision. So, what we can learn from all this boy and girls is that it doesn’t matter if you’re the celebrity of celebrities; some things are still too good to be true.
(Photo courtesy of Kotaku.com)
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